Rocket City Marathon and Recover from the Holidays 50K

It's a Twofer!
RCM & RFH 50K

This is a tale of two races.  Both are part of the Huntsville Track Club's Grand Slam. With the Dizzy 50K in the books, it was time to take on two more of the four races -- the Rocket City Marathon on December 9th, and later, the Recover from the Holidays 50K, on December 31st. 

Rocket City Marathon

A cold snap hit Huntsville the week of the marathon, and starting temperatures were in the upper 20's.  I knew from past experience that if you dress like an Eskimo at the start of a cold race, you will wind up melting as the temperatures begin to rise.  So, I opted to wear a toboggan and gloves. (Yes, my northern friends, the thing on your head is a toboggan and the thing you ride in the snow is a sled. A sled is not a toboggan.)

As the race progressed, I was feeling pretty good.  I was hoping to break 4 hours and I was hanging with the 3:58 pace group.    

Around mile 18, a bit of a controversy ensued.  As you can see from the picture below, I was clearly by myself, in the lead of the 3:58 pacing group.  Running fast, as the Saturn V was about to launch.  However.....

As you see here Kathy Youngren, superimposed her picture into this frame to give the appearance that she was ahead of me.  So sad, so unnecessary.  Kathy has ran in several 10Ks, marathons, and other races -- there's no need to list them, we'll just call them, "other races."  So, she has nothing to prove, and yet this.  Anyway, out of the goodness of my heart, I let her cross the finish line ahead of me, by a few minutes.  Did I mention that it was out of the goodness of my heart? Well, it was. I didn't break 4 hours.  I finished in 4:00:18. :/

(Kathy wrote her name on her bib)

Recover from the Holidays 50K

Well, time marched on, and as the end of 2017 approached, I once again toed the line at the Recover from the Holidays 50K.  Christy Scott is the race director.  Along with her husband Tony, they've made RFH a truly great event.

(An artist rendering of Christy. She's my friend.)

 It was the coldest start of the RFH that any of us could remember.  I think it was around 21 degrees and it never got above 27.  Also, there was a strong north wind that kept one wide awake during the race. 

(Starting the race, with my Alabama Crimson Tide gloves. The next day we beat Clemson. Also, I have to say, #nuunhydration kept me going.  Love the grape flavor.)

RFH is a loop course, and on every loop we get to run up and down this little hill.  As the day wears on, the hill gets steeper and longer. Go figure.

 The eventual winner of RFH was Josh Whitehead, pictured here.  Josh is super fast and a really nice guy.  Each time he lapped me - which he did frequently, he offered a word of encouragement, to an old broken down trail runner. Josh finished in 3:59:49.  I finished in 6:20:15.  My life coach, Stephen Hawking, assured me that in the overall space time continuum, that really wasn't much of a difference. -- practically inconsequential.

A couple other people I need mention:  Lindsey "Slim Shady" Hardesty tracked me down like a wounded animal.  Every lap I could see her chipping away into my lead.  Eventually the inevitable happened; she passed me and said, Eat my dust old man, and she tripped me, and threw a rock at me.  No respect for her elders.

On the flip side, Brad Ryder finished ahead of me, but shouted words of support when he saw me. I appreciated that Brad.

I can't say enough about the volunteers who weathered the extremely cold temperatures to work the aid station, and the timing table, and all the other behind the scenes work that went into the race. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So the final race of the Grand Slam is Mountain Mist, at the end of January.  I'll let you know how it goes. I'll probably fall and lose some teeth. Karma.